Systems and methods for identifying faulty touch panel having intermittent field failures

ABSTRACT

An electronic device having a faulty touch panel may be diagnosed and indicated for repair by extracting a log from the electronic device. The log may include a record of touch panel events indicating active and inactive touch panel events divided into time periods. The log may be analyzed for touch panel events in a given time period. If a total number of touch panel events in a given time period exceeds a threshold count, and if a percentage of touch panel events in that given time period exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel may be identified as in need of replacement. Further, if a total number of touch panel events for all time periods exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel may be identified as in need of replacement.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/093,859 for a METHOD TO IDENTIFY BAD TOUCH PANEL WITH INTERMITTENT FIELD FAILURES filed Dec. 18, 2014. The foregoing patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of present invention generally relate to the field of electronic device maintenance and, more specifically, to systems and methods for identifying faulty touch panel screens that have intermittent field failures.

BACKGROUND

To register user actions on a computer screen, a touch panel overlay may be placed over the top of the computer screen (e.g., on top of the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen of a personal data terminal (PDT), personal digital assistant (PDA), or desktop personal computer (PC)). The touch panel overlay component, however, wears over time due to the mechanical stress imposed from stylus or finger presses.

Before a touch panel screen fails completely, the touch panel may go into an intermittent failure mode whereby the touch panel occasionally registers a false touch. The intermittent failure is typically caused by an internal short in the touch panel component. The short in the faulty (i.e., defective, bad, flawed, etc.) touch panel screen will activate intermittently (i.e., come and go) based upon various conditions such as temperature, pressure, touches at other locations, etc.

When the touch panel enters into an intermittent failure mode, it is difficult for a maintenance or repair technician to diagnose the faulty touch panel because the panel may not be in the failure mode at the time of the attempted repair. This situation can lead to missed repair opportunities and the repeated return of failing devices causing frustration for the device user/customer.

Therefore, a need exists for more effective maintenance systems and methods for electronic devices, including but not limited to maintenance systems and methods that facilitate accurate detection of faulty touch panels in an intermittent failure mode.

SUMMARY

Exemplary systems and methods for identifying faulty touch panels in an electronic device are disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a log is extracted from the electronic device that has a touch panel. The log has a record of touch panel events indicating active and inactive touch panel events divided into time periods. The log may be analyzed for touch panel events in a given time period. If a total number of touch panel events in a given time period exceeds a threshold count, and if a percentage of touch panel events in that given time period exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel is indicated to the technician as in need of replacement. Further, if a total number of touch panel events for all time periods exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel is also indicated to the technician as in need of replacement.

The exemplary embodiment described herein identifies intermittent mode faulty touch panels by capturing specific time monitored events and logging these events. At the time of a repair, these event logs may be analyzed for specific characteristics that identify the defective touch panels. The result is then reported to the repair technician. In this regard, even if current touch panel tests are acceptable, the technician is advised that the panel is bad due to the intermittent field failures report.

The foregoing illustrative summary, as well as other exemplary objectives and/or advantages of the invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, are further explained within the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of the method to identify bad touch panels having intermittent field failures.

FIG. 2 is a view of an exemplary embodiment of a log file generated by software embodying the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 3 is a screenshot of an exemplary embodiment of software embodying the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of an exemplary embodiment of a properties settings screen of software embodying the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of an exemplary embodiment of software embodying the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures where failures have been identified and the touch panel is indicated as in need of replacement.

FIG. 6A is a first part of a flowchart illustrating a log extraction step of the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 6B is a second part of the flowchart of FIG. 6A.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a step of analyzing the log of the touch panel of the exemplary method to identify bad touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 8A is a first part of a flow chart illustrating a software upgrade step of the exemplary method to identify faulty touch panels with intermittent field failures.

FIG. 8B is a second part of the flowchart of FIG. 8A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, exemplary systems and methods for identifying defective touch panels in an electronic device are disclosed. A log may be extracted from the electronic device having a touch panel. The log has a record of touch panel events indicating active and inactive touch panel events divided into time periods. The log may then be analyzed for touch panel events in a given time period. If a total number of touch panel events in a given time period exceeds a threshold count, and if a percentage of touch panel events in that given time period exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel is indicated to the technician as in need of replacement. Further, if a total number of touch panel events for all time periods exceeds a threshold percentage, the touch panel is also indicated to the technician as in need of replacement. Further, the software on the electronic device may be upgraded.

FIG. 1 depicts a flow chart 100 of a first exemplary embodiment of a method to identify defective touch panels that have intermittent field failures. The exemplary method as shown includes three steps. First, a log of touch panel events is extracted from the electronic device 101. Second, the touch panel log is analyzed to determine if the touch panel should be replaced 102. Third, and optionally, the software on the electronic device is upgraded 103.

Although the exemplary method/system embodiments may be described and utilized in connection with electronic devices such as personal data terminals (“PDT”), personal digital assistants (“PDA”), and personal desktop computers (“PCs”) having touch panels, and more specifically a HONEYWELL 99EX PDT, the methods/systems described may be implemented with any electronic device that includes a touch panel in order to diagnose touch panel defects. Generally, an exemplary electronic device (e.g., a PDT) may include, but is not limited to, operating components such as a central processing unit, a system bus, a main memory (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.), a mass storage device (e.g., a hard disk), an operating system (e.g., MICROSOFT WINDOWS) stored on the mass storage device and executed by the central processing unit, and a computer touch screen (or other input/display devices) for receiving input from a user and displaying information.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an exemplary log relating to touch panel activity that the electronic device may be configured to keep. Firmware residing on the electronic device (i.e., stored in memory) captures the touch panel status at all unattended or suspend/wake events. The firmware is designed to specifically monitor/log two conditions, namely, inactive/“no press” touch panel events or active/press touch panel events. All captured events are saved in an event log, titled as “TLOG.txt” in the example, but other names may be utilized for the log.

The log (e.g., the TLOG.txt log of FIG. 2) may be formatted as an ASCII text file to conserve storage space. The log size may also be limited to a maximum size of 5000 characters, or some other limited number. Once the log has reached the maximum allowed size, the oldest portion of the log may be overwritten with new entries.

The log may be further structured such that each line in the text file is either a new day, or a new entry since the last reset of the electronic device. As shown in FIG. 2, each entry may be prefixed with a “D” to indicate a new day or an “R” to indicate a reset. The firmware may then record a “1” to indicate an inactive/“no press” touch panel event or a “0” to indicate each active/press touch panel event. Other characters or coding may be used. The advantage of using an ASCII text file for storage of the log is that it is readable by humans (e.g., a device technician), but the log may be encoded in other condensed formats where storage space is critical.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate screenshots of an exemplary software utility for extracting and analyzing logs, as well as updating firmware on an electronic device. Although the software utility is shown with a graphical user interface (“GUI”), the method may be performed in a command line or other interface as well. The GUI provides an enhanced user interface that is easy to read and run for a technician diagnosing a touch panel for defects.

With reference to FIGS. 3-5, the GUI includes a window 200, including standard operating system (e.g., WINDOWS) controls 202, that is divided into three main panes: a tool bar 204, an activity pane 206, and a diagnostic pane 208. The tool bar 204 includes three buttons: start 210, stop 212, and print 214. The start button 210 starts the extraction and analysis of the log and upgrades the firmware, if desired, on the electronic device. The stop button 212 stops and/or aborts the activities commenced or underway. The print button 214 prints the results of the diagnostic pane 208 of the software utility. Optionally, the results of the activity pane may also be included.

Although a MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating environment is shown, the software utility may be programmed in any desirable language and run on any operating system as desired. It is contemplated that the software utility run on a technician's device, such as a PC, and the electronic device under repair be connected to the device through a wired connection, such as a serial port interface, USB interface, or other connection. Proprietary communications connections may also be used. Although a wired connection is contemplated, the communications may also be wireless and even performed remotely, at least to identify a faulty touch panel, saving the customer time, expense, and loss of use of the electronic device needing repair relating to time in transit for devices not needing a touch panel replacement.

The activity pane 206 lists the actions being taken and the status of those actions as they are performed by the software utility, which is useful for the technician to see that the software utility is performing correctly.

The diagnostic pane 208 provides a formatted output of the analysis of the log and identifies if the touch panel should be replaced by the technician. A completed report is best seen in FIG. 5. The results are reported in a chart including rows for “Worst Day” and “Total” and columns for “TotalInactive” (indicating inactive/“no press” touch panel events), “TotalActive” (indicating active/press touch panel events), “TotalCount” (indicating the total number of touch panel events), “% Failures” (indicating the percentage of touch panel failures in the log) and “RepairActions” (providing an indication as to whether the touch panel should be replaced). In addition to the formatted output of the analysis, the diagnostic pane 208 also includes the device serial number of the electronic device and the date and time the report was created.

FIG. 4 provides an illustration of properties window 216, which includes settings for locations and names of the log and directory path for the log. Further, if an upgrade to the electronic device firmware is needed (e.g., to upgrade device parameters), file names and paths to the upgrade may be provided so that the upgrade of the firmware may be performed by the software utility. As described further below, entries in the fields of the properties pane are used to identify whether an upgrade is needed and where to find those upgrade files.

FIGS. 6A and 6B, collectively, provide a flowchart showing an exemplary log extraction process (step 600) from an electronic device. At step 601, the software utility ascertains whether the required properties values are set in the preferences pane (as best shown at FIG. 4). If not, the software prevents the user from activating the start button by graying it out at step 602. If, however, the required properties are set, the start button is marked black and remains active in step 603. In step 604, the software utility waits for user input.

If the user selects “Help/About” (step 605), the software utility displays the software utility name and version and returns to step 604 after a short delay at step 619. At step 606, if the user (e.g., a technician) selects “Close,” the software utility exits the program. At step 607, if the user selects “Tools/Settings,” the software utility displays the properties windows at step 608 (which is best seen in FIG. 4), and waits for user input at step 609. The user may then: change, delete, or edit the fields of the properties window at step 610 and select “apply” at step 611 which saves the changed fields of the properties window at step 612, but leaves the properties window open for further review and/or editing; select “OK” at step 613, which saves the changed fields of the properties window at step 614 and returns to step 601; or select “Cancel” at step 615 which closes the properties window without saving the fields and returns to step 601.

If the user presses the start button, illustrated at step 616, the software utility verifies that the required values of the properties window have been set at step 617. If not, the software utility displays an error message at step 618 and returns to step 604 after a short delay at step 619. If the required values are set, the software utility at step 620 prepares the electronic device by copying settings file locally, transferring changes to the system (such as the registry) to the electronic device, and terminating running processes on the electronic device.

As shown at FIG. 6B, once the processes have been terminated, the electronic device is rebooted at step 621. The software utility waits for the electronic device to finish rebooting at step 622. At step 623 the serial number and manufacturing data are queried from the electronic device. At step 624, the software utility may create directories for the log storage directory and subdirectories according to the settings in the required properties window on the technician's computer. At step 625, the log files are copied from the electronic device.

At steps 626, 627, 628, 629, and 630, the software utility may also query the electronic device for other logs, such as battery usage and fault logs. At step 631, the log extraction is complete.

FIG. 7 provides a flowchart of the software utility analyzing the log to determine if the touch panel should be replaced because it is experiencing intermittent failures (step 700). The software utility creates and initializes six variables to zero at step 701: “TotalIdleCount” (i.e., total idle count), “TotalActiveCount” (i.e., total active count), “CurIdleCount” (i.e., current idle count), “CurActiveCount” (i.e., current active count), “PrevIdleCount” (i.e., previous idle count), and “PrevActiveCount” (i.e. previous active count). The function of these variables, described further below, is to determine the poorest period of performance of the touch panel, as indicated by the log, and to determine the total number of events logged.

To determine the values for the variables, the software utility parses the log files and increments the variables, reading each line from the log file. Specifically, at step 702, the software utility opens the log file. The software utility then reads a line from the log file at step 703. The number of 0's and 1's on the line are counted. “CurIdleCount” is set equal to the number of 1's and “CurActiveCount” is set equal to the number of 0's counted on the line, respectively, at step 704 (as in, for example, TLOG.txt of FIG. 2). The value of “CurIdleCount” is added to “TotalIdleCount” and the value of “CurActiveCount” is added to “TotalActiveAcount” at step 705.

At step 706, the software utility determines if at least thirty (30) touch panel events have occurred in the given period. If not, the software utility skips to step 709. If yes, the software utility determines if the percentage of bad events on the current period is worse than any previous period by comparing the percentage of “CurActiveCount” to the percentage of “PrevActiveCount” at step 707. If not, the software utility skips to step 709. If yes, the software utility assigns “PrevActiveCount” the same value as “CurActiveCount” and assigns “PrevIdleCount” the same value as “CurIdleCount” at step 708.

At step 709, the software utility determines if it has reached the end of the log. If not, the software utility returns to step 703 and repeats steps 703-709 until the end of the log file is reached. In this manner, the worst performing period of the electronic device will be determined and assigned to the values of “PrevActiveCount” and “PrevIdleCount.” Furthermore, “TotalIdleCount” and “TotalActiveAcount” will have a total for all events over all logged time periods for the electronic device as indicated at step 710.

At step 711, the software utility indicates that the touch panel should be replaced under two different conditions. If either condition exists, the touch panel is deemed bad and a repair indication is made to the technician. Under the first condition, the touch panel should be replaced if the worst day percentage of failures exceeds a threshold failure percent, such as twenty percent. This may be represented by the formula (“PrevActiveCount”÷(“PrevIdleCount”+“PrevActiveCount”))×100>20.

Under the second condition, the touch panel should be replaced if the total failures percentage exceeds a threshold failure percent, such as twenty percent. This may be represented by the formula (“TotalActiveCount”/(“TotalIdleCount”+“TotalActiveCount”))×100>20. A person having skill in the art will recognize that the threshold failure percentage may be other than twenty percent, and may be calibrated to a percentage that contemplates other factors according to a cost benefit analysis. At step 712, the analysis of the log is complete.

FIGS. 8A and 8B, collectively, provide a flowchart illustrating the process of updating the firmware/software on an electronic device (shown as step 800). At step 801, the outdated files are deleted from the electronic device. At step 802, the new files are copied to the electronic device from a folder previously designated in the required properties window. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane 206.

At step 803, if the electronic device further includes removable storage such as an SD Card, those files will be deleted as well. At step 804, if the electronic device includes a custom firmware package designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the custom firmware from the folder designated at step 805 and unpack it at step 806.

At step 807, if the electronic device includes a battery profile designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the battery profile from the folder designated to the electronic device at step 808. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane 206.

At step 809, if an optional service pack update is designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the service pack update from the folder designated at step 810. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane 206.

At step 811, if a registry file is designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the registry file from the folder designated at step 812. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane.

At step 813, if an Autorun file is designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the Autorun file from the folder designated at step 814. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane 206.

At step 815, if an upgrade (“UGP”) file is designated in the optional properties window, the software utility will copy the UGP file from the folder designated at step 816. The copy operation progress and status will be displayed in the activity pane. At step 817, the UGP file will be run. At step 818, the upgrade status will be displayed in the activity pane 206 as complete. At step 819, the upgrade is complete.

In summary, it can be appreciated from the foregoing description and illustrations that the exemplary systems and methods for identifying bad touch panels in an electronic device facilitates electronic device repairs. By analyzing intermittent failures and determining whether the frequency of failures exceeds certain threshold criteria, a technician can accurately conclude whether to replace the touch panel, thereby minimizing missed repairs and repeat return of failing devices.

* * *

To supplement the present disclosure, this application incorporates entirely by reference the following commonly assigned patents, patent application publications, and patent applications:

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In the specification and/or figures, typical embodiments and environments of the invention have been disclosed. The present invention is not limited to such exemplary embodiments. The use of the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The figures are schematic representations and so are not necessarily drawn to scale. Unless otherwise noted, specific terms have been used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for identifying a faulty touch panel, comprising: extracting a log from an electronic device having a touch panel, the log having a record of touch panel events indicating active touch panel events and inactive touch panel events divided into time periods, wherein the inactive touch panel events comprise touch panel failures; analyzing the log for touch panel events in a given time period of the time periods; determining, based upon the analysis of the log for the given time period, if a total number of the touch panel events in the given time period exceeds a threshold count; if the threshold count is determined to be exceeded by the total number of the touch panel events for the given time period, determining, based upon the results of the analysis of the log for the given time period, if a percentage of the inactive touch panel events for the given time period exceeds a threshold percentage; providing an indication to a technician whether the touch panel should be replaced if the threshold count is determined to be exceeded by the total number of the touch panel events for the given time period, and the threshold percentage is determined to be exceeded by the percentage of the inactive touch panel events for the given time period; and replacing the touch panel based upon the indication being provided indicating that the touch panel should be replaced.
 2. The method of claim 1, comprising: analyzing the log for touch panel events in all of the time periods; determining, based upon the results of the analysis of the log for all of the time periods, if a percentage of the inactive touch panel events for all of the time periods exceeds the threshold percentage; and indicating to a technician whether the touch panel should be replaced if the threshold percentage is determined to be exceeded by the percentage of the inactive touch panel events for all of the time periods.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold count is
 30. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold percentage is
 20. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the time period is one day.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein a day is designated with a “D” prefix in the log.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the given time period is a time period since last reset of the electronic device.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein a reset is designated with an “R” prefix in the log.
 9. The method of claim 1, where each time period is indicated with a new line in the log.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein each active touch panel event is designated as a 0 in the log.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein each inactive touch panel event is designated as a 1 in the log.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising upgrading the software of the electronic device.
 13. A method for maintaining touch panels in an electronic device, comprising the steps of: providing an electronic device having a touch panel with firmware capable of capturing touch panel events; saving the events in an event log; extracting the log from the electronic device, the log having a record of touch panel events indicating active touch panel events and inactive touch panel events divided into time periods, wherein the inactive touch panel events comprise touch panel failures; analyzing the log for touch panel events in a given time period of the time periods; determining, based upon the results of the analysis of the log for the given time period, if a total number of the touch panel events in the given time period exceeds a threshold count; if the threshold count is determined to be exceeded by the total number of the touch panel events for the given time period, further determining, based upon the results of the analysis of the log for the given time period, if a percentage of the inactive touch panel events for the given time period exceeds a threshold percentage; providing an indication to a technician whether the touch panel should be replaced if the threshold count is determined to be exceeded by the total number of the touch panel events for the given time period, and the threshold percentage is determined to be exceeded by the percentage of the inactive touch panel events for the given time period; and replacing the touch panel based upon the indication being provided indicating that the touch panel should be replaced.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: analyzing the log for touch panel events in all of the time periods; determining, based upon the results of the analysis of the log for all of the time periods, if a percentage of the inactive touch panel events for all of the time periods exceeds the threshold percentage; and indicating to a technician whether the touch panel should be replaced if the threshold percentage is determined to be exceeded by the percentage of the inactive touch panel events for all of the time periods.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the threshold count is
 30. 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the threshold percentage is
 20. 